The Digital Side of Dimensions
by Rukatofan
Summary: Ryou Bakura was sent to another dimension thanks to Aigami, leaving Yugi and the rest to save the day. But what happened to Ryou while he was gone? Where did he go? This is his story, and his adventure in the mysterious place called The Digital World. (DSoD x Digimon Tamers crossover)


**The Digital Side of Dimensions**

**Summary:** Ryou Bakura was sent to another dimension thanks to Aigami, leaving Yugi and the rest to save the day. But what happened to Ryou while he was gone? Where did he go? This is his story, and his adventure in the mysterious place called The Digital World.

**Disclaimer**: Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and other titles named in this story as reference (i.e. Nintendo) do not belong to me. This is a work of fiction, and no money is being made from this story. It is simply a work of love and appreciation for two of my favorite worlds.

**Warning**: This story is rated T to M for mature themes featured at times in the narrative, such as difficult adventure, fighting, PTSD, depression, torture (mild), and demons, possibly more to come. Please read with discretion. Thank you!

-o-

**Chapter One**

_Ghost in the Graveyard_

-o-

Tears streamed down his face, but no matter what he said, or what he did, Aigami would not hear him. All he could do was watch as the power of the cube dissolved his body, and the last thing he saw was the looks of horror on his friend's faces.

What Ryou expected next was obliteration. Utter darkness, chilling cold through his being, endless torment, the usual sort of things he experienced when he had the misfortune of ending up in the Shadow Realm. The spirit had always loved to send him there, or to lock him up in his soul room where he was oblivious to the world around him. Once upon a time the spirit used to let him watch, and see what he was doing to Ryou's friends as another level of cruelty, but he quickly learned that Ryou could and would fight back with every fiber of his being. He still had the scars to prove it. And so oblivion had been his prison each time the spirit-no, that wasn't right. Each time _Zorc_ decided to take over.

And now Zorc had used another hurting soul, Aigami, the same way he had used the ancient spirit Bakura, to further his desire for darkness and destruction. Aigami didn't know what he was doing, Ryou probably knew better than anyone else. The pain and loss he had suffered, that he blamed Ryou for, and the overwhelming grief thereof, it was driving him to desperation and action fueled by the lies of darkness. Ryou had witnessed it first hand from the spirit too.

So he didn't blame Aigami. How could he? _I tried to apologize, _he thought sadly. _My words didn't get through to him. Yugi… please reach him. You're the only one who can._

He opened his eyes, prepared now to face whatever horrors the Ring had thrown him, trusting in his friends to right was what wrong. They always had, and he would not stop believing in them now.

What he saw was not darkness, rather it was bright, so bright he had to shield his eyes with his hand. He blinked several times until he could see better, and slowly sat up. Around him in all directions was nature, a field full of flowers and birch trees, with the sun shining brightly overheard. He knew by the plants that this could not be anywhere in Domino City, or even in Japan for that matter.

_Where am I?_ Ryou thought in alarm.

His first thought was that he must be dreaming. When he realized that he felt very much awake, he wondered instead if he had died, and was now wandering the afterlife, whatever that might be. But almost immediately his stomach began to growl, and he remembered how badly his head was aching. If he were dead, he probably wouldn't need something like food or a good dose of aspirin. That meant that he was somewhere else, someplace real.

Aigami did say something about controlling doorways to other dimensions, hadn't he?

"Nothing for it, I might as well see where I am," he said, picking himself up and beginning to walk through the field. It smelled nice, the grass was fresh and the aroma of the flowers was gentle. Even the sound of the wind through the birchwood leaves was peaceful. "Of all places to get sent, I guess I'm glad it's here, wherever here is."

Ryou walked for a while, his mind a constant whirlwind of thoughts and worries as he wondered might be going on back home. Of course he trusted Yugi to make things right, but why was he always useless when it came to these things? Either he couldn't do anything to help, or he himself was the problem, every time. _Why am I so useless?_ He thought in frustration. _All I want to do is help my friends, and instead I only cause them more problems. Why haven't they just ditched me and moved on already? _

Even as he thought it, he felt guilt stab his stomach. Yugi would never abandoned him, and neither would any of the others. They were there for him no matter what.

_I don't deserve them._

The guilt didn't argue with that thought.

Time passed slowly, and he walked through the fields without knowing where he was going. Ahead of him he could just make out a gray building made of stone, surrounded by thick trees and shrubs, so he made his way toward it. Maybe there was someone there who could tell him where he was.

As he drew closer, he thought he could hear the sounds of children chanting. Or were those children's voices? Some of them were deep and gravelly, reminding him of the sound of stone grinding against stone. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he kept walking closer until he he could hear the words of the chant more clearly.

"-bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?"

"Seven!"

"One, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN! You're out."

"Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?"

Ryou slowed down, a sick feeling in his stomach. He remembered this game from his childhood. His classmates would go around the circle, using the rhyme to eliminate each other one by one, until inevitably Ryou was the last one. "You're it!" they would call out. And he would go hide.

The game was supposed to be one where everyone looked for him. Instead, they would wait until he had hidden himself before they all ran away to play something else.

Somehow, he had always fallen for it, hoping for the day that one day, someone would find him and yell out "Ghost in the graveyard!"

A resounding cry from the child-like voices rang out from the courtyard of the house. "You're IT!"

He circled a large tree and came upon a sight he did not know how to comprehend. The house was old and run down, clearly abandoned, but still in decent condition. What was strange was not the house, however, but the group of nine little creatures crowded together on the steps of the house, covering their eyes and counting together.

They were not human. Nor were they any animals Ryou had ever seen or heard of in his life. There was one that looked like it was made of rocks, another that looked like a slime. Several were just little blobs of color with large eyes and mouths filled with teeth, occasionally with a strange pair of ears sticking out of their heads. The closest thing that he could think of that they reminded him of were pokemon.

But pokemon weren't real. They were a nintendo game. Besides, pokemon couldn't talk.

"Ready or not, here we come!" The rock-looking one cried. All of the little creatures cheered and began to run around, peering into bushes and behind trees, some dashing into the house to search for whomever was "it". Ryou could hardly believe that it was the same game he used to play.

One of the little globules darted through the underbrush and ran smack into his legs, stumbling back with a small cry of pain. It looked up, slowly, its large eyes getting impossibly wider and wider when it finally stared at Ryou in the face.

Then it began to scream.

Chaos erupted at once. The creatures all turned to see what their friend was screaming about, and the second they saw Ryou standing there, they began to scream as well. Running and bouncing and scrambling everywhere at once, they started hurting themselves in their mad dash to get away. Ryou stepped forward in alarm, hands spread out as he tried to calm them down, but that only seemed to make things worse.

Finally, they managed to pull together. Huddling and crying, the group of small creatures hid behind the rock one, as it bravely stepped forward and pointed at Ryou's face. "Go away ghost!" he cried. "You're not welcome here!"

Ryou blinked, taking a step backward in confusion. "Ghost?" he asked. "I'm not a ghost, I'm…"

"Yeah, well I know a ghost when I see one, and it's YOU!" the stone creature scrunched up its face in anger. He pointed at Ryou's hair, bright white and colorless, and then to his face. His skin had always been pale, but right now, he probably looked ashen.

"Gotsumon," one of the blobs whimpered. "Make it go away!"

Gotsumon seemed to be the stone one. Wait… Gotsu..._mon_? Ryou felt his confusion growing. "Are you… a pokemon?" he asked hopefully.

Gotsumon looked confused for a second, before puffing out his chest proudly. "I'm a Digimon!" he declared. "And you're a filthy ghost. Go away or I'll Rock Fist your face!" he clenched his hand into a tight fist, preparing himself to attack.

Ryou was sure he had never heard of a digimon, but it didn't seem to matter right now. He looked down at his hands, checking to see if his body was corporeal, and then looked back up. "I don't think I'm a ghost," he insisted. "I'm sorry I scared you, I really didn't mean to. I'm lost you see, and I don't know how I got here."

"That's what they all say," Gotsumon sighed. He turned to the ground behind him and gave them reassuring pats. "Come on you lot, hurry back to the village and I'll meet you there. I'll take this ghost back to his graveyard."

"Yay Gotsumon!" they cheered. Several scurried off, but the one that had run into Ryou's legs hopped over to him first, sticking out its tongue indignantly. But he too ran off, leaving Ryou alone with the rock digimon.

It turned to face him, arms crossed over his chest. "Come on," he ordered. "I haven't got all day you know. Stupid ghost, if you didn't pop out of the grave things would be much better. Why couldn't you have died back on your human world, huh? Human ghosts are the worst."

"I didn't mean to come here," Ryou repeated weakly. He was growing more confused by the second, more unsure of himself, but he followed after the digimon as it led him around the back of the old stone house to a run-down but rather large graveyard. What if he had died when Aigami sent him here? Was this graveyard… his?

_I think I would know if I was dead,_ he thought. But instead of arguing, he just walked with the strange creature as it took him to the center of the field.

"Here you are," Gotsumon declared. "Now you stay here and don't bother us again, you hear? Ghosts shouldn't go around scaring people it's rude. Even if you are a filthy human ghost."

Ryou blinked. It occurred to him that, in its own way, the digimon was trying to be kind to him. How he had come to that conclusion, considering the insults, he wasn't sure. But it felt true. He knelt down to Gotsumon's eye level, offering a smile. "Thank you for leading me here," he said kindly. "I don't think I'm dead, but I know you are doing what you think is right. And I am sorry for scaring you all back there. I promise I'll try not to do that again."

Gotsumon seemed taken back by his words, stammering a few things, before turning away in typical tsun fashion. "Whatever, just, yeah. Don't do it again." He stormed off without looking back, leaving Ryou in the graveyard surrounded by mist.

Somehow, the setting felt familiar and melancholy. The spirit had once lured strangers into a graveyard and shadow dueled them. Ryou had tried to stop it from happening, and had been helpless to do anything about it. _Well,_ he remembered with a grimace. _He did stab me during all that. _

Ryou sighed and turned around, observing the field before him unhappily. He was in a new place, but with more questions now than he had answers. What were digimon if they weren't pokemon? They clearly knew that he was human, but they seemed to think that he was dead. "Am I dead?" he asked aloud, placing a hand to his chest.

A voice came out from the mists, mournful, empty, sounding more like a moan than speech. "Do you wish to be, child?"

He looked around, steeling himself for the worst. _Zorc? _He thought anxiously. After all, it was the Ring that had sent him here. Or was it the cube? Either option wasn't good if the dark demon Zorc was waiting for him here.

Slowly, a figure emerged from the fog. And despite whatever doubts he had about himself, he knew without a doubt that _this_ creature was in fact, a ghost.

Like something out of a horrific cartoon, the ghost-creature looked like a floating, tattered bed sheet draped over nothingness and despair. It had two fingerless arms that stretched out in front of it from under the sheet, and a mouth that gaped in an endless, quiet moan. The teeth in that mouth were the largest Ryou had ever seen, and its eyes were like deep black pools of misery. The sight of it sent chills down Ryou's spine. "Who are you?" he asked.

The ghost observed him with a mournful stare. "I am Bakemon," it said.

Ryou hesitated. Despite its appearance, and the question whether Ryou wished to be dead or not, it did not seem to be threatening him. "What do you want?" he finally asked.

At this, Bakemon offered a chilling moan. "Alas," he cried. "What I want can never be. Ask me not what I want, human child. Ask what _you_ want."

"I don't know what I want," Ryou replied. "That is… I want to go home, of course, but I don't know where I am or how to get back."

"Then you are as lost as I," Bakemon replied. His mouth closed, and silence once again filled the graveyard. Ryou was relieved. For a moment, the ghost observed Ryou carefully, before at once a strange look lit in its eyes. "You are not like the others," it said slowly.

"Because I am human?" He shivered, remembering all too well when he had put on the ring for the first time. _You're not like the others,_ the voice had said. _You're the one. My vessel. And what an amusing little vessel I've found… _Ryou shook his head, desperately attempting to rid himself of the memory. Why couldn't he just forget? Why did Aigami have to bring those dark times to the forefront of his memory?

The ghost shook its head. "Humans and digimon alike fear me. They attack me on sight, they know to fear me and avoid me. For I am a mon born of darkness and evil. And yet you…" it stared straight into Ryou's eyes. "You look upon me without fear."

_I'm not so sure about that,_ Ryou thought with a grimace. _My fear and anxiety are always with me. But… I guess it's not _him _I'm afraid of. _"I'm a little lost," he said, not knowing what else to reply. "All of this is new to me."

"And yet even now, after I have told you of my evil character, you remain calm."

Ryou laughed wryly. He ran a hand through his white hair, wondering to himself why it didn't matter to him what this ghost said about itself? A digimon born of darkness and evil? It sounded just like Zorc, just like everything he hated and feared most. And yet... _This creature does not feel quite so foul._ "Maybe it's intuition?" he shrugged. "But you're right. I'm not afraid of you. Let's just say that I've come across worse." Much, much worse.

Bakemon flew closer, circling him. Ryou watched without moving, wondering what he would do if it tried to attack him. He had no weapons, no deck, no sinister spirit to take over his body and steal the souls of any who tried to kill him. Though that protection had not been out of kindness, it was out of greed. Zorc wanted Ryou alive for himself.

But in Bakemon, there was no hostility despite its claims. And no sinister calculating look in its eyes betraying its desire to use him. It was just curious.

"You… do not judge me?" it asked.

"What have you done to be judged?" The question was put forth honestly, without malice. Ryou wanted to know.

Bakemon shuddered when he asked it. "I sought and devoured those unfortunate enough to stray too deep into the dark places in this world. I used to torment creatures who did nothing more than pass by my home. I have served dark masters and done their bidding without question, out of greed for power and lust for cruelty. Do you question my purpose now, human?"

Ryou looked back at him with his head tilted, considered his words. It struck him that these comments were not said in pride, they were a confession from a broken and hurting spirit. Bakemon, he realized, regretted these things.

He thought of Aigami, and of his own past. His heart ached.

"My name is Ryou," he said softly. "Are you asking for my judgement, Bakemon? Or are you explaining why you are going to kill me?"

A pitiful moan erupted from the digimon's mouth. It was the only sound he would make.

If asked, Ryou could not have answered why he did what he did next. He himself did not know, it was instinctual. He saw in this creature something he felt reflected his own heart, and it resonated so strongly inside him, he didn't know how to put it into words. He stepped toward the floating digimon with his hand outstretched, and placed it atop its head. "Bakemon," he said softly. "I forgive you."

He wasn't sure if he even had the power or the right to say such a thing. It hadn't been him that this creature had harmed, but it had been him that it had confessed to. Once upon a time, he had come to Yugi the same way, confessing the things he had done when under Zorc and the spirit's control, and instead of laughing at him, or scorning him, Yugi had taken both his hands and stared deeply into his eyes. "I forgive you," he had said. And it had been like the breaking of a dam.

A second chance. A fresh start. A friend.

Maybe it wasn't his place to forgive a creature of darkness that he didn't even know, but how could he do any less? It would be like betraying what Yugi gave him, and that was something he would never do.

Bakemon's wailing was cut off as soon as he had uttered the words. He seemed stunned, unsure what to do with himself, and kept staring into Ryou's face with such intensity, Ryou felt his ears turn hot with embarrassment. But then, all at once, Bakemon was enveloped in light.

His form shrank in size, and then again, growing smaller and smaller until all at once the light vanished, and a small form fell from the sky where Bakemon had been floating. Ryou reacted, catching it with both hands, and staring down in alarm at a completely new creature.

It had one large, red eye in the middle of its circular body, and two bunny-like ears sprouting from its head. Underneath it were six wriggling legs with a single claw protruding from each one, which squirmed until the creature realized it was no longer falling. Its body was a grayish purple color.

Ryou blinked. His confusion must have showed on his face, for the little creature in his arms chuckled a strange, gurgling laugh. "I am Tsumemon," it said. "You forgave me, Ryou. You gave me a second chance. I have not been reborn, my deeds are still mine, and so are my sins. This form is a testimony of that. But perhaps this time, I can grow up into something better."

He stood there at a loss for words. _This… kind of is like pokemon, isn't it?_ "He-hello Tsumemon," he said. "If that's true, then I'm glad for you."

The large red eye squinted happily. Despite how oddly disturbing the creature's shape was, Ryou decided it was kind of cute in a way. "By the way," Tsumemon said. "You are not dead. You are very much alive. I was a Bakemon, I could tell."

"That's actually a relief to hear," Ryou laughed. He contemplated putting the digimon down, but it seemed so comfortable nestled in his arms like this that he couldn't bring himself to do it. "Do you know how I can get home?"

"To the human world," Tsumemon nodded. "I know the way. We'd better hurry though if you want to reach it. Other digimon are not nice like Gotsumon, or afraid of you like the young ones. Or helpful like me." It beamed at the last part, clearly fixated on the idea that it was turning over a whole new leaf. "They'll see that you're human and come to fight you so they can get stronger. Some of them will want you to train them, but the rest will just kill you."

"What should I do, then?" Ryou asked. He didn't have his deck on him, or his duel disc. Outside of a duel, he had no idea what he should do to fight if it came down to one.

Tsumemon looked thoughtful for a second. "I suppose, you could take me with you became my Tamer, I could fight with you. You could make me stronger." It looked at him with such hope in its eye, that Ryou felt a tugging in his heart. "I promise I will take care of you, Ryou. You're the only one who has ever been nice to me, even though I didn't deserve it. It's the least I can do."

"Then how can I say no?" Ryou chuckled. He held the small creature to his breast, a warmth filling his heart that threatened to overflow into tears.

It was like the fulfillment of his deepest wishes. He had found the Ghost in the Graveyard. Or perhaps, the ghost had found him. And now he knew, he was not alone any longer.

-o-

_Well, well, well. What are you doing, rukatofan? Writing more new stories when you haven't even finished your other ones? Shame on you. _

_Yes, yes I know. But this idea was just so fun… _

_It will be fun to play around with this concept. Who knows? Maybe I can even do a decent job at it. Thanks for coming along for ride, I hope you enjoy it!_

_~rukatofan_


End file.
